88 - La révolution des transports en Angleterre au xvllte siècle

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LE XVIIT SECLE
srÈctn
88 - La révolutiondestransportsen Angleterre
au xvllte siècle
La construction de routes et de canaux constitua, avant l'ère des
chemins de fer, l'indispensable condition de l'élan commercîal et industriel. Le système des routes à pëage s'imposa pour attirer des capitaux
privés, qui furent aussi à l'origine de la grande fièvre des canaux dans
le dernîer tiers du siècle. Les témoignages citës ci-dessous rendent compte
des efforts et de leur portée économique, mais aussi de leur insffisance.
l. Deux témoignagessur les routes à péage dans la
seconde moitié du xvrile siècle
ou sYsrÈur
a) rss HEUREUXEFFETs
There never was a more astonishing revolution accomplished in
the internal system of any country than has been within the compass
of a few years in that of England. The carriage of grains, coals, merchandise, etc., is in general conducted with little more than half the
number of horses which it formerly was. Journeys of business are
perforned with more than double expedition. Improvements in
agriculture keep pace with those of trade. Everything wears the face
of dispatch, every article of our produce becomes more valuable,
and the hinge upon which all these movementsturn is the reformation
which has been made in our public high roads.
H. Hortrs, An Inquiry into the Means of Preservingthe Public Higltroads
of the Kingdont,1767,p. 8.
b) r,q.suRVrvÀNcEDE TRrsrEsnÉnrrrÉs
What am I to say of the roads of this country? The turnpikes,
as they have the assuranceto call them, and the hardinessto make one
pay for! From Chepston to the half-way house between Newport
and Cardiff they continue mere rocky lanes,full of huge stones as big
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as one's horse, and abominableholes... The road from Witney to North
Leach is, f think, the worst turnpike I ever travelled in : so bad, that
it is a scandal to the country [.,.]. Of all the cursed roads that ever
disgraced this Kingdom, in the very ages of barbarism, none ever
equalled that from Billericay to the King's Head at Tilbury. It is for
near twelve miles so narrow that a mouse cannot passby any carriage.
I saw a fellow creep under his waggon to assistme to lift, if possible,
my chair over â hedge [...] (From Liverpool to Wigan) I know not,
in the whole range of language,terms sufficientlyexpressiveto describe
this infernal road... Let me seriouslycaution all travellers...to avoid
it as they would the devil...
Artlrur YouNc, ... (Tours) Throughthe SouthernCounties,1768,pp.72,
101, 120, and Throughthe North of England,1770,l, p. 430.
2. Les canaux : leur influence sur le développement
industriel; I'exemple en l79l de Birmingham
The capital improvementwrought sinceI was here before is the canal
to Oxford, Coventry, Wolverhampton, etc. ; the port, as it may be
called, or double canal head in the town crowded with coal barges is
a noble spectacle,with that prodigious animation, which the immense
trade of this place could alone give. I looked around me with amazement at the change effectedin twelve years; so great that this place
may now probably be reckoned,with justice, the fust manufacturing
town in the world. From this port and these quays you may nolv
go by water to Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Oxford (130miles) and London.
The cut was opened through the coalmines to Wolverhampton
in 1769. In 1783, into the new mines of Wednesbury, and to the
junction with the Coventry Canal, at Faseley,near Tamworth. From
Birmingham to the Staffordshire canal is 22 miles, and to Faseley
15. In the 22 mlles from hence to Wolverhampton, only three locks;
but down to Faseleythereare 44 locks; not one rivulet to supply water,
and only 30 acresof reservoirs,the water coming out of the earth. At
Ocher Hills they have a powerful steam engine for throwing back
R. Manx.
- Documents d'Ilist.
anglaise. - 8.
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the wastewater[...]. Coals,before thesecanals,were made,were 6d per
cwt. at Birmingham,now 41112d. The consumptionis about 200'000
tons a year [...], it employs40 boats...
Arthur YouNc, Toursin Englandand lYales,
XIV, pp. 255-258'
LondonSchoolof Economics
Bibliographie :
E.A. Pna,rr, A History of Inland Transportation and Communications
in England, 1912.
89 -
La croissance de Londres au xv[Ie siècle
Pendant toute l'époque moderne, Londres a été wte ville géante en
comparaisondes autres cités anglaises, et même de nombre de grandes
villes du Continent. L'incendie de 1666 n'eut aucuneconséquencedurable
sar son essor,lié à la position commercialé,aux nombreusesactivités
industrielles,à Ia présencedes grandes administrations et des principales
cours de justice, au foisonnement des distractions, à la multiplicité des
emplois offerts aux <<inoccupës>>de partout. Le témoignagede Tobias
smollett est celui d'un esprit curieax et rtn, ffop longtemps
méconnu.
London is literally new to me; new in its streets,houses, and even
'London is now gone out of
in its situation; as the Irishman said,
producing
hay and corn, I now find
town'. what I left open fields,
palaces,
and churches. I am
and
squares,
streets
and
with
covered
crediblyinformed, that in the spaceof sevenyears,eleventhousandnew
houses have been built in one quarter of Westminster, exclusive of
what is daily added to other parts of this unwieldy metropolis. Pimlico
and Knightsbridge are now almost joined to Chelseaand Kensington;
and if this infatuation continuesfor half a century, I supposethe whole
county of Middlesex will be coveredwith brick- [."]
The capital is bçcome an overgrorvn monster; which, like a dropsical
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head, will in time leave the body and extremitieswithout nourishment
and support. The absurdity will appear in its full force, when we
considerthat one sixth part of the natives of this whole extensivekingdom is crowded within the bills of mortality. what wonder that our villagesare depopulated,and our farms in want of daylabourers? The
abolition of small farms is but one causeof the decreaseof population.
Indeed, the incredible increase of horses and blanck cattle, to answer the purposes of luxury, requires a prodigious quantity of hay
and grass, which are raised and managed without much rabour; but
a number of hands will always be wanted for the different branches of
agriculture, whether the farms be large or small. The tide of luxury
has swept all the inhabitants from the open country - The poorest
squire, as well as the richest peer, must have his house in town, and
make a figure with an extraordinary number of domestics. The ploughboys, cow-herds, and lower hinds are debauchedand seducedby the
appearanceand discourseof those coxcombsin livery, when they make
their summer excursions. They desert their dirt and drudgery, and
swarm up to London, in hopes of getting into service,where they can
Iive luxuriously and wear fine clothes, without being obliged to work;
for idlenessis natural to man - Great numbers of these, being disappointedin their expectation,becomethievesand sharpers;and London
being an immensewilderness,in which there is neither watch nor ward
of any signification, nor any order or police, affords them lurkingplaces as well as prey.
There are many causesthat contribute to the daily increase of this
enormous mass; but they may be all resolved into the grand source
of luxury and corruption.
Tobias
SvrolLBrr,
The Expedition
of Humphry
1971.
Clinker,
1771t.
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90 -
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Les nouvelles techniques industrielles
Révolutîon de la machine et du charbon, du textile cotonnfer aussi, la
Révolution industrielle vit mettre au point la machine à vapeur et utiliser le coke dans les hauts-fourneaux à la place du charbon de bois. Ces
deux dernières inventions, capitales, ont trouvé un écho dans les deux
textes cités ici.
1. Matthew Boulton to the Earl of Dartmouth 1
1775, February 22. Soho.
I take the liberty of writing to your lordship in favour of my friend
Mr James Watt, an engineer,who intends to petition parliament for
a prolongation of a term of an exclusive privilege granted by his majesty's patent which he has already obtained for certain very capital
improvements invented by him in steam or fire engines.[...]
I need not point out to your lordship's considerationthe great utility
of steam or fire enginesin collieries,in lead, tin and copper mines, and
in other greatworks wheregreat power is required, but I shall beg leave to
observe,thai Mr Watt's intentions, if carried into execution, will very
much extend the utility of fire engines by rendering them one-fourth
ofthe expenseusual, and by adapting them to a greatvariety of purposes
and manufactures to which the present engines cannot be applied.
Mr Watt has spent a greatpart of his life and fortune in making experiments upon steam and steam-engines,and is the first and only man
that has discoveredthe true principles upon which they can be constructedtothe bestadvantageand very much superiorto thosecommonly
employed.
In the year l769,he took out a patent for the sole use of his invention
but from many mechanical difficulties, that occured in carrying into
execution his newly discoveredprinciples, from bad health, and from
his having been employed by the boards of police and other public
boards in Scotland, in making surveys, superintending the execution
1. Alors président du Board of Trade.
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of a navigablecanal, and other public works t...1 he has not been able
to finish large enginestill the latter end of last year, when he completed
in my manufactory at soho, two engines(one rotatory, and the other
reciprocating) which perfectly answer to his and my satisfaction.
From the difficulties Mr watt has met with in the execution of this
invention and from those he still saw before him, he was discouraged,
and would have dropped the scheme, had r not assistedhim. But
as a greatpart of the time of his patentl is elapsedI...1. r think that his
abilities and my money may be otherwise better employed, unless parliarnent be pleased to grant a prolongation of his exclusive privilege.
Letter reproduced in English Historical Documents,
Vol. X, pp.474-476.D.C.Douglas,éd.
2.Le progrès techniquedans la sidérurgie. Les Darbys
à Coalbrookdale
It was my Husband's Father, whose name he bore (Abraham Darby)
that attempted to mould and cast Iron'pots, etc., in sand instead of
Loam [...]in which he succeeded
t...1. About the year 1709he came
into shropshire to coalbrooksale, and with other partners took a
leaseof the works, which only consisted of an old Blast Furnace and
someForges... sometimesafter he suggestedthe thought, that it might
be practable to smelt the Iron from the ore in the blast Furnace with
Pit coal : upon this he ûrst try'd with raw coal as it came out of the
Mines,but it did not answer. He not discouraged,had the coal coak'd
into cynder, as is done for drying Malt, and it then succeededto his
satisfaction. But he found that only one sort of pit coal would suit
best for the purpose of making good Iron. [...]
My Husband Abraham Darby was but Six years old when his Father
died but he inherited his genius----enlarg,dupon his plan, and made
many improvements. one of consequenceto the prosperity of these
works was as they were very short of water that in the Summer or
dry seasons they were obliged to blow very slow, and generaily blow
l. Le premier brevet n'avait été conçu que pour six ans!
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out the furnaces once a year, which was attented with great loss.
But my Husband proposed the Erecting of a Fire Engine to draw up
the Water from the lower Works and convey it back into the upper
pools, that by continual rotation of the V/ater the furnacesmight be
plentifully supplied; which answeredExceeding Well to theseWorks,
others have followed the Example.
But all this time the making of Barr Iron at Forges from Pit Coal
pigs was not thought of. About 26 years ago my Husband conceived
this happy thought - that it might be possible to make bar from pit
coal pigs. Upon this he Sent some of our pigs to be tryed at the
Forges... And a good Account being given of their working, he
errected Blast Furnaces For Pig Iron for Forges [...].
Had not these discoveriesbeen made the Iron Trade of our own
produce would have dwindled away, for woods for charcoal became
very Scarceand landedGentlemenrosethe pricesof cord wood exceeding
high - indeed it would not have been to be got. But from pit coal
being introduced in its stead the demand for wood charcoal is much
lessen'd...
Many other improvements he was the author of. One of Service to
these Works here they used to carry all their mine and coal upon
horses' backs but he got roads made and laid with Sleepersand rails
as they have them in the North of England for carriyng them tot he
Rivers, and bring them to the Furnacesin Waggons. And one Waggon
with three horses will bring as much as twenty horses used to bring
on horses'backs. But this laying the roads with wood begot a Scarcity
and rose the price of it. So that of late years the laying of rails of
cast iron was substituted.
Letter from Mrs Abiah DAnny, written towards 1775.kt T.S. AsuroN,
Iron andSteelin the IndustrialRevolution,1924,Appendix,pp.249-252.
Bibliographie :
Histoire générale des techniques,P.U.F.
P. RousssA.u,Histoire des techniqueset des inventions, Paris, Fayard,
19s8.
A. Ratsrzucr, Dynasty of lronfounders: the Darbys and Colebrookdale,
Londres, Longmans, 1953.